Swimming Against the Current
by J.L.Finch
Summary: Trunks finds an archenemy in his bossy little sister, who is constantly thwarting his plans, hogging all the spotlight, and trying to steal his best friend. Putting Bra in her place is the only thing the nine-year-old cares about. What he doesn't realize is that the love of his life and the key to his happiness has been staring him in the face all along. M/T


**This is an AU where I brought Trunks and Bra closer in age to play with how I feel the dynamic changes. I also tweaked a few other things. Trunks is three when she's born, and Goten and Marron are obviously younger. I also have a preference to Gohan being female, and I will probably have side fics written in the same universe that revolve around her and her stories. **

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The day Trunks was bestowed the arduous title of 'Big Brother' was a day he would never forget. It was a day no one could remember quite like he did. To everyone else, it was all about how Goten and Marron crowded around Bra like she was the coolest thing they'd ever seen. It was how many bottles she went through, how much pain his mom had been in, how his grandma nearly ripped someone a new one for Kami only knew what...

No.

None of that was what he remembered.

For him, it was about his dad and all of what he'd said to him that night.

Trunks slept at his mom's side in the hospital all throughout her labor and every night after until the day she got home. At three years old, he couldn't stand the thought of not having her in the house with him, and while he loved his grandparents there was nothing they could do to ease the worry that overcame him when she left early that Sunday morning.

He missed her warmth, her scent, her soft voice.

He didn't understand why she'd had to go.

Despite his demands to see his mom being met, the nights he spent with her in the hospital were restless ones. Trunks was a notoriously lightsleeper and, seeing his mother fretted over by nurses, he was no less worried about her than he had been at home. The room was too cold, the halls reeked of chemicals which itched his sensitive nose, and the sound of shoes squeaking on waxed floor picked up by his advanced hearing had him tossing and turning.

All in all it was a miserable experience, and very much a hint as to just how big of a nuisance his sister would continue to be for the rest of his life.

When he sensed his dad coming in through the window, he decided he'd had enough and got out of bed.

"I can't sleep." he muttered tiredly, rubbing his fist under his eyes and frowning.

"Do you finally want to come home now, boy?"

Trunks looked back at his mom dead asleep, snoring quietly and drooling onto his pillow. "Maybe..."

"Well hurry up and decide," he snapped. "I won't be here all night."

He watched as his dad unswaddled the new baby and picked her up, holding her at arm's length so that her head fell back gently into his hands and her tail twitched down low beneath her. He inspected her, as he often did with Trunks, and as he shifted her into the crook of his elbow he seemed pleased, the baby's tail wrapping around his hand responsively. "The doctor says she's a scary mutant-monster-baby."

"Did they."

"Mhm - she has a tail."

"So did you. Your mother mistakenly removed it, as Kakarot's wife did with your friend's."

"Reeeally?"

"It's the mark of your people and an honor. It's a proud part of our history. It allows us to transform on the dawn of the full moon into mightier beings, taller than this building and stronger than anything you've seen in your lifetime. I had one, Gohan had one, and now your sister has one as well," And then he added fondly, "She will make a fine warrior. It's in her blood as it is in yours."

Trunks scrunched up his nose at the obvious story. His dad had never looked fondly at anything before. "You're making that up."

"I'm well aware of how much you want an excuse to be rid of her. Your mother's talked to you about this. I feel no reason why I should have to," Through the dark of the hospital room, Trunks could still see his dad's eyes piercing him like daggers. "You'll know the might of Oozaru soon enough. I hope it to be an enlightening experience for all of you. She may even take to training more than you. Females of our kind are remarkably brutal; you've never witnessed Gohan in a rage, but believe me, boy, it is something to see." "

It was at that moment it dawned on Trunks all of what his dad saw in her, the little blue haired baby girl with puffy red cheeks and a permanently sour expression. And all of what he didn't see in him.

His worst fear was laid out on the table, even if he was too young to recognize it or what was happening. The fight had begun.

Trunks attached himself to his dad's leg, reaching up high to hook his hand on the arm holding the baby and tug downward. He wanted to hold her and see what was so special about her - no one had let him before_._ The saiyan prince batted him away all too easily. Really? Not even his _dad _would let him hold her?

A cool breeze blew in from the window Vegeta had entered the room from, sending the curtains fluttering, and suddenly a thought occurred to Trunks. "Are you going to drop her out that window?"

A startled looked crossed his dad's usually apathetic features. "Have I ever thrown you out a window?" he asked quickly.

"No, but if you think Bra is super powerful like you and Gohan and you throw her out you might be wrong and she'd get squished because she can't fly like you two can. I can't fly, and I'm almost four!"

His dad closed the window suddenly and locked it tight, drawing the curtains to ensure it would no longer be cause of distraction. He looked like he was shaking off what Trunks had said. "You'll learn how to control your ki and fly tomorrow, and there will be no more talk of throwing children out of windows. It's pathetic that you don't you know how already."

"Will Bra learn how to fly, too, dad?"

"Not until she's older," He put the baby back in her plastic, makeshift crib, wrapping her back up in her tiny pink blanket. Then he straightened his back and crossed his arms, finally looking like himself again, stern and a little bitter. "Now are you coming home with me or are you staying with your mother?"

Trunks thought about the empty house and how his dad would probably disappear as soon as they got there. The familiar hums of machines picking up the housework, the Gravity Chamber activating early in the morning, the feel of his own race car bed - that all sounded great. But what was the point if his mom wasn't there to tuck him in and cut up his breakfast in the morning? She might be sad if he left, and his dad always made the pieces of his steak too big... "I'll stay, I guess."

"Get into bed then."

Trunks turned around and clamored onto the hospital bed next to his mother, pulling the thin white sheet back up to his chin. Her arms instantly enfolded him, squeezing him to her as she dreamily talked in her sleep and murmured silly things to herself. When he looked back, his dad was gone.

That day, Trunks had marveled at his new found title. "Brother." Probably not in the way anyone expected him to. Trunks could honestly say that he never once thought about sharing his toys with Bra. Or protecting her from boys and bad guys. Or expressing his unconditional love for her. He never planned on doing any of that.

Her entrance had been one of a rival, an archenemy in the making, a challenger to the seat of the throne - HIS throne. The way his dad had made it sound was like she was going to grow up, be better than him everything, and he'd better get used to it quick. Trunks would never like her. She was going to be snooty and entitled and a brat.

What he did not realize was that so was he.

The irony of his horrible little sister being the one person he needed most in his life when all he wanted to do was strangle her... was not lost on him.


End file.
